Why are Gnostics(books and gospels) not in the Bible?

Question

The gnostics that I've read are more spiritual/philosophical than books in the Bible. Some of them has a very "God is everything" perspective.
Could this be the reason that they are not in the Bible?

Answer 1

Gnostic books contradict the diety of God.
Gnostic books are not inspired by the Holy Spirit of God.

Answer 2

I think it has more to do with the humanizing of God. If God is humanized so much than where is his divinity? If no divinity then there is no salvation.

I still think the gnostic books are a good read. And, I think they should be read and questioned. However, they were declared a heresy at one point in time...which is probably why they weren't included in the bible.

Along with the gnostic texts I would recommend reading other religious material like the Telmud. It will give you a greater understanding/concept/context of the Bible.

Answer 3

it is because they do not affect the biblical story in any way. the bible was set up in the fourth century by Constantine, but the new testament was mainly put together in the second century, because of one heretic, Martion, who became setting his own religion omitting several biblical stories, just considering the ones he liked. The new testament had to be set up for the early Christians as a guideline, to hold on, not to fall to Martion´s lies. They considered mainly the books with the one huge biblical point. However, other books, like Gnostic's are still relevant, but not so important for the faith. Some of the books that are now in Bible, could be omitted as well, it is all the matter of the early Christians, who dyed for their faith, so it had to be a good faith to be worth dying for. And BTW if you believe that God inspired the writers, he might have inspired the ones that put the Bible together as well.

Answer 4

They are too threatening as they humanize Jesus to a point that the concept of him being God is unsustainable.

They also introduce us to the close connection between mysticism, magic and christianity, something that the christian church has desperately tried to hide in icons and homogenized practices.

Funnily, this is the very thing that modern christian theologians use to dispell the Gnostic Gospels as "flawed" in that they claim them to be rantings, not of rational and calm thought.

Then again, the Nag Hammadi scrolls didn't go through the pearly white rinse cycle of hundreds of years of translations and refined editing that the Canon (accepted Bible) did...

Answer 5

The reason they're not in the Bible is because unlike the Gospels they were not by recorded eyewitnesses. They were not by the authors they claimed like Judas, Philip, or Mary and they had already begun circulating in Paul's time though perhaps not in written form. He refers to them as Jewish fables (Titus 1:14) and basically superstitious junk. The scofield has a very good note on Colossians 2:18

Colossians 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

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The error against which Paul warned the Colossians later developed into the heresy called Gnosticism (from Greek gnosis, meaning knowledge). This false teaching assigned to Christ a place subordinate to the true Godhead, and undervalued the uniqueness and completeness of His redemptive work. It insisted that between a holy God and this eartha host of beings, angels, etc., formed a bridge, of which host Christ was a member. This system included the worship of angels (v.18) and a false ascetism (vv.20-22).
For all these errors, the apostle had one remedy, a knowledge (epignosis, that is, full knowledge, 1:9-10; 3:10) of the fullness of God in Jesus Christ. Paul is not afraid of wisdom, or knowledge, and refers to them frequently, but he does insist that the knowledge be according to divine revelation. His devastating answer to this false teaching is in 1:19 and 2:9, in which the Lord is revealed as the one in whom dwells "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." The word "fullness" (Greek pleroma) is the very word Gnosticism used for the entire host of intermediary beings between God and humanity. The incarnate Lord, crucified, risen, and ascended is the only Mediator between God and humanity (1 Tim. 2:5).
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The message of the gnostic gospels consistently contradicted the witness of the apostles who were known to have traveled with Jesus and were eyewitnesses. For example, in the so-called "Gospel of Thomas" it presents Jesus as having made clay birds come to life as a child playing with miracle power. Yet in the Gospel of John we see that the wedding of cana is where His first miracle was done, and thus when He was a 30 year old adult (John 2:11).

It is probable that the gnostic gospels were created by disgruntled Jews. They chased the apostles from town to town trying to have them killed, just read the book of Acts. Then when that wasn't successful some of their Pharisees pretended to be Christians and tried to put new believers under the Old Testament physical laws of circumcision and eating certain meats. Paul wrote the whole book of Galatians addressing that issue. With both efforts thus undermined, it would seem they then pretended to have an authority they did not as they created the gnostic gospels. The early Church however instantly recognized these as frauds and refused to accept them.

Furthermore, there are over 20,000 reliable manuscripts for the New Testament, most of which are for the Gospels, and they are 99.5% word for word accurate to one another. The remaining half percent includes "errors" that are simply scribal errors in copying or simply matters of paraphrasing. Some of the manuscripts we have are from as early as the first century. Yet those copies we have of the gnostic gospels are written centuries later and we have very few copies. The gospel of Philip for example depends solely on one incomplete manuscript. Not only do they contradict the well-verified New Testament books but they even contradict themselves sometimes. The books also lacked the numerous details to geographic location, people names, and time that can be found in the real Gospels and other New Testament books. Whole cities have been found based on the writings of Luke for example, and Sir William Ramsey, one of the greatest archeologists in history said that Luke should be considered one of the greatest historians of all time. Small wonder the gnostic writings are not considered the "Gospel truth."

Answer 6

The Gnostic sect was searching for "Gnosis," which can't be delivered by any book. Even if their texts were included alongside the rest of the gospels of the New Testatment, I don't think they would've liked the way Christianity turned out when all was said and done.

Answer 7

Here's what my bible says, in their "Books of the Apocrypha" (abbreviated):

The word Apocrypha means hidden, or secret.

They are generally applied to a collection of books, ranging from 11 to 16 in number, which appeared between the Old and New Testaments. They come down more or less in close connection with the canonical books of the Bible.

They have had an unusual history. Ecclesiastical opinion in various periods has differed widely as to the value of the books. The jews of the Dispersion in Egypt had a high regard for these books and included them in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, but they were rejected from the Hebrew canon by the Jews of Palestine.

The Roman Catholic church in the Council of Trent, AD 1546, declared 11 of the books to be canonical, and these appear in modern Catholic editions of the Scriptures.

The Protestant Church, while agreeing they contain material of literary merit and historical value, rejected them over a period of years. Their canonicity, however, has been rejected for the following reasons:

They were never quoted by Jesus, and it is doubtful if they were alluded to by the apostles.

Most of the early Fathers regarded them as uninspired.

They did not appear in the ancient Hebrew canon.

The inferior quality of most of the writings, as compared with canonical books, stamps them as unworthy.

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

at the time the romans compiled the canon, they were at odds with the gnostics. the catholic church has always been interested in consolidating their power and the doctrine of the gnostics didn't fit in with their's. they destroyed and repressed any writings that they didn't approve of, sort of like the nazis burning books. and in the end, went on a murdering spree to wipe the gnostics out, again, a lot like the nazis.

Answer 9

because an ancient priest decided that should only be 4 gosples in the bible, you should see the gospel of judas on the national geographic channel, you can buy the show from the web site, it explains why they are not in the bible, in fact there were at least 30 gospels and only 4 made it in the bible.

Answer 10

Many Gnostics were Christian, and their views were perceived as a threat to the emerging proto-orthodox church. Therefore their writings were branded heretical and most were lost. We are lucky to have the Nag Hammadi library.